Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Fifth Amendment to the Agreement with Cultivate, LLC to Increase Compensation by $73,500, for a Total Aggregate Compensation Not to Exceed $294,000, to Continue Providing Technical Planning Support to the City of Alameda General Plan Update through Plan Adoption. (Planning, Building and Transportation 209)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The last comprehensive update of the current General Plan occurred almost 30 years ago and was designed to serve the City of Alameda (City) for 20 years or until 2010.
In 2019, the City Council approved Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-21 Biennial Budget and 2019 Annual Report on the Status of the General Plan, which identified the need for a comprehensive update of the 1991 General Plan. Work began on the update in 2019, with technical support from Cultivate, LLC. In February 2020, the City Council approved a contract amendment for the next phase of work, and in 2020, the City received a $310,000 State Grant to partially fund the General Plan update and project Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
Since the release of the first draft General Plan, the staff/consultant team has received written comments on the General Plan from over 1,500 individuals through the website, and the Planning Board has held four public forums for the review of the First Draft General Plan, with approximately 75-80 people attending each forum. In addition, staff and consultants have been meeting with a wide variety of organizations and groups.
The 2020 work on the General Plan has been extremely productive and successful, but staff underestimated the volume of work and the number of individuals that would be participating in the process. Therefore, staff is requesting City Council approval for a fifth amendment to the contract to fund the final phase of the General Plan update. The necessary funds are available and budgeted for this purpose in the FY 2020-21 Planning & Building Department Budget.
BACKGROUND
The General Plan must be an “integrated, internally consistent and compatible statement of policies for the adopting agency.” (Government Code section 65300.5.) The General Plan establishes the local development and conservation policies necessary to guide physical development and protect the general health, safety and welfare of the community and the environment. The last comprehensive update of the current General Plan occurred almost 30 years ago in 1991. As described in the introduction of the General Plan, the 1991 Plan was designed to serve the City for 20 years or until 2010.
Between February 2020 and January 2021, the staff/consultant team completed a draft General Plan 2040 for public review and comment. In August, the staff/consultant team published the draft General Plan for public review, launched the project website to allow the public to review and comment on the entire draft General Plan, and sent a postcard to all Alameda households informing them of the update process. Access to the draft General Plan and information about the forums and opportunities to comment on the work completed to date are available at <https://www.alameda2040.org/> or at <https://www.alamedaca.gov/Home> (scroll down to General Plan 2040).
Since publication of the draft Plan, a broad range of Alameda residents (over 1,500 individuals) have taken the time to comment on the draft General Plan, and approximately 50 to 80 individuals have participated in each of the Planning Board’s four forums that occurred this past fall. In addition, staff has met with or is in the process of meeting with the following organizations and groups: Alameda Collaborative for Children, Youth and their Families; Social Service Human Relations Board; the Downtown Alameda Business Association; the Rotary Club of Alameda; the Alameda Architectural Preservation Society; the Commission on Persons with Disabilities; the Alameda Point Collaborative; the Transportation Commission; Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda (CASA); the Alameda Renters Coalition; Bike Walk Alameda; the League of Women Voters; and the Alameda Chamber of Commerce.
DISCUSSION
Scope of Work
The final phase of the General Plan process is expected to take approximately 8 months and will include publication of the Second Draft General Plan and the draft EIR for the General Plan in March 2021. The next 6 months will be devoted to Planning Board public hearings on the Second Draft General Plan and Draft EIR and the crafting of final Planning Board recommendations to the City Council on the General Plan and EIR.
Staff anticipates that the City Council will then be able to hold its final public hearings and take final action on the Draft General Plan update and EIR in September or October 2021.
Staff is working to complete the General Plan update process with the Planning Board in the summer of 2021, so that staff can begin working on the Housing Element update, which must be ready for City Council consideration in summer 2022.
To fund the consultant assistance needed to complete the General Plan Update, staff is recommending a $73,500 increase to the contract amount, which staff and the consultant team believe will be sufficient to complete the General Plan public review and revision process through final City Council adoption.
About Cultivate, LLC
Cultivate, LLC is a qualified planning and design consulting firm, with a long history of work in the Bay Area and for the City over the last 10 years. The firm specializes in planning, design, and assisting cities with community planning and involvement.
Cultivate, LLC has been instrumental to the General Plan update process to date. They have provided important technical and graphic support for staff. Staff believes that their continued support is critical for a successful public outreach process, and to help prepare final documents for environmental review and plan adoption hearings.
ALTERNATIVES
The City Council may:
• Approve the contract amendment as recommended;
• Approve the contract amendment with revisions determined necessary by the City Council; or
• Not approve the contract amendment and direct staff to complete the General Plan update process without assistance from Cultivate, LLC.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The funds are available in the Planning & Building Department’s FY 2020-21 Budget. In addition, in 2020, the City received a $310,000 State Grant to partially fund several Planning areas including the General Plan update and project EIR. These grant funds are designed to supplement the Community Planning Funds collected over the past 10 years to fund General Plan and Zoning Ordinance updates. No additional appropriations are needed.
The table below provides information related to the original contract and the contract amendments:
|
Contract |
Approval Date |
Authorized Amount |
Expended to Date |
|
Original Contract |
11/13/18 |
$10,500 |
$10,500 |
|
1st Amendment |
1/17/19 |
$60,000 |
$60,000 |
|
2nd Amendment |
12/19/19 |
N/A (Term Extension) |
N/A |
|
3rd Amendment |
2/28/20 |
$75,000 |
$75,000 |
|
4th Amendment |
9/16/20 |
$75,000 |
$70,000 |
|
5th Amendment |
|
$73,500 |
|
|
Total |
|
$294,000 |
$215,500 |
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
The General Plan update will result in an updated long-range planning document that guides physical development, and will include the City’s overarching goals, policies, and implementation actions regarding future development.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. This action is not a project pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21065 and CEQA Guidelines section 15378.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
The General Plan is the City’s guiding policy document. The update embeds recent policy actions, such as the City’s Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, into the broader policy framework related to topics such as land use, transportation, and recreation. Further, the General Plan update is being completed as an almost “paperless” update, with an emphasis on use of electronic media instead of printed copies of the various drafts of the document.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute a fifth amendment to the Agreement with Cultivate, LLC to increase compensation by $73,500, for a total aggregate compensation not to exceed $294,000, to continue providing technical planning support to the City of Alameda General Plan Update through plan adoption.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager recommends approval of the Fifth Amendment to the contract. The work became broader and more encompassing due to the comments received from the public. The City did receive $300,000 in assistance from the State for Planning. The City has sufficient funding for the requested increase in the contract.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Annie To, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Original Agreement
2. 1st Amendment
3. 2nd Amendment
4. 3rd Amendment
5. 4th Amendment
6. 5th Amendment
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager